The Vanguard: Naruto
by Blast-over-Blast
Summary: The night Naruto learns the truth about the Kyuubi, something changes. Each vessel is granted a unique set of abilities along with their tenant's chakra. The power of the ninth vessal has been unlocked. Naruto must now learn how to and why to wield it.


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Bleach, Batman, Iron-man, Spider-man, Jumper, or Kenshin, Lord of the Rings, Hawaii, or the planet earth, but you knew that already.

**The Vanguard: Naruto**

* * *

Chapter 1: Pilot

Releasing the True Power

In the forest that borders the outskirts of Konohagakure…

Naruto was doubled over, panting heavily. He leaned back and sat on the forest floor, regaining his breath. As his breathing became lighter, he caught the sound of someone approaching and looked up to see Iruka-sensei jump into the clearing.

"Gotcha!" said the exhausted chûnin.

"Ha! I've found you, sensei!" Naruto exclaimed.

"NO, YOU BAKA!" yelled a thoroughly pissed Iruka "I'VE FOUND YOU," he shouted in his Big Scary Head Jutsu.

"He he, you found me sensei," said a sheepish Naruto while rubbing the back of his head, "but I only had enough time to learn one jutsu from the scroll."

Iruka now took in his student's appearance. Naruto was banged up, his clothes worn and ripped, and he was still panting slightly. "You look exhausted, what have you been doing?" Iruka asked.

"Wait 'till I show you. I've never dreamed… some of the shinobi arts are so amazing!" Naruto exclaimed, slightly out of breath.

'_You came out here to practice your Ninjutsu, working yourself to exhaustion.' _Iruka observed mentally. "Naruto, why did you take the scroll?"

"What, this? Mizuki-sensei told me about it, and this place. He said if I learned a technique in this scroll, you would let me become a shinobi." Naruto said enthusiastically.

'_Mizuki…?'_ thought Iruka

Iruka's eyes widened as his ears picked up the sound of several objects flying rapidly through the air in their direction. Reacting immediately, Iruka shoved Naruto out of the way as he was hit with several shuriken and kunai, pinning him to the side of the cabin. Naruto whirled around to see where the weapons had come from. He saw Mizuki standing on a branch nearby.

"Why Iruka, I must say you did good. You got to him before me. " Said Mizuki with a sneer. He turned his attention to Naruto. "Now Naruto, give me the scroll."

"Now I understand!" Iruka grunted out in pain.

"M-Mizuki-sensei? What's going on?" asked a thoroughly confused and worried Naruto.

"Naruto, don't do it. Mizuki only used you to steal the scroll, he lied to you. You must protect that scroll with your life!" Iruka shouted pulling out a kunai imbedded in his side.

"Ha… this entire village has been lying to him his entire life, and you accuse me of lying. Tell me Naruto, do you know why this village hates you?" asked Mizuki with a sadistic grin.

"No Mizuki, you can't! It's forbidden!" Iruka shouted, panic evident in his voice.

"Of course you don't. There was a law that forbade anyone from telling you the truth." Mizuki said in his lecturing voice.

"STOP IT!" roared Iruka.

"I don't remember any law." Naruto said with much trepidation in his voice.

"You wouldn't, no one was allowed tell you what you really are." Mizuki said, savoring the boy's fear.

"SHUT UP!" Yelled Iruka, tears beginning to fall from his eyes.

"The secret that you, Naruto, are the Kyuubi no Kitsune. The same demon that killed Iruka's parents."

Naruto body froze as he stared at his chûnin sensei. Inside he was desperately trying to come up with a denial, some proof that proved otherwise. But deep down he knew it to be true.

"You were the same demon that destroyed our village!" Mizuki continued.

The villager's cold stares, the hatred, the beatings and attacts, the coinciding dates of his birth and the Kyuubi's defeat. The insults like 'demon child' or 'Kyuubi-brat'. It all finally made sense to Naruto.

"Didn't you find it strange? To be so despised, everywhere you went?" Mizuki asked taking out a giant shuriken from the hook on the back of his vest. "If he were honest, even noble Iruka would admit that he hates you too!"

'_That's why they hated me, that's why I never had anyone, always in pain, why I'll never have anyone_.' A tear started to make its way down his cheek. '_I never even had a chance to be human, did I? I was cursed the day I was born_.' Naruto thought.

'_I… deserved everything… but even they had no right… I… I HATE THEM!!!!'_ Naruto thought, his chakra flaring up around him, making his hair stand up on its end and the ground beneath him crack.

'_You never knew your parents love, since the day of your birth you've been shunned by your entire village.' _Iruka thought, forcing himself from the cabin wall, ignoring what pain he could.

"NO ONE WILL EVER EXCEPT YOU!!!" cried Mizuki getting ready to throw the shuriken.

'_The best you could hope for was attention, not love. And you could only get that by doing things that would get you into trouble. And you didn't care. You were willing to take any criticism, any condemnation, as long it meant that someone was paying attention to you.'_ Iruka thought in pity.

"The scroll you took was the instrument of you bondage." Mizuki said laughing. "The technique that bound you in this form."

'_It was a brilliant performance Naruto, but it was all a sham, to hide your loneliness… and _pain_.'_ Iruka thought as he leapt toward the blonde.

Naruto was suddenly pushed onto his back, he felt something warm and wet hit his face. Opening his eyes, he was shocked once more. In front of him, Iruka was hunched over and blood dripping from his mouth, having taken the giant shuriken directly to his back.

"Why?" Naruto asked, numb from one shock after another.

He gave Naruto a sad smile. "I... I understand how painful it is, to grow up without anyone that cares about you, being all alone." Tears began to fall down his face. "When my parents died, I had no one to acknowledge me. I wanted attention, any attention at all, so I became the class clown just so people would notice me. Because being the class clown was better than being a nobody. It… hurt so much " Iruka lowered his gaze as his tears fell to the ground. "I'm sorry Naruto, if I had been a better teacher… a better self, maybe neither of us would have come to this."

'_How can I trust him?' _Naruto thought. He did the one thing he always had done to survive, he ran.

Mizuki frowned. His plan should have been foolproof. The Kyuubi brat actually believed that learning a jutsu from the scroll would automatically make him a genin. Once he had it, all that was left to do was take it and let him take the heat while he made his getaway. The only thing he didn't count out was Iruka getting there first, but he didn't care, all that mattered right now was getting the scroll.

"What a pity," chuckled Mizuki jumping down from the branch. "But I'm afraid, once Naruto sets his mind on something, he can't be dissuaded. He is going to use the scroll to take revenge on the village!" taunted Mizuki.

Iruka reached around and pulled the huge shuriken out, wincing as he did, before turning to face his 'friend', "You… don't know… Naruto." Panted the bloody chûnin.

"I don't have to know the boy to kill him." Mizuki said leaping away.

'_You can _try_…' _Iruka thought moving as fast as his body would allow in order to intercept the traitor.

000

"At last I found in the crystal…" the Hokage spoke gravely as he watched the scene unfold. "So when my teachers found him… Mizuki spoke, revealing all…" the Kage trailed off. '_…Driving Naruto over edge so that all of that awesome, terrible power has begun to burst forth from its mystic bonds…' _SarutobiHizuren narrowed his eyes as he was filled with dread. '_There is always the possibility that the spirit might escape, and on top of that, the secret scroll is in his hands…'_

000

It was some time later that the two chûnin were once again face-to-face in the forest. Both had made use of a Henge Jutsu in an attempt to fool the other. Iruka had gained a slight advantage and managed to hit Mizuki with a shoulder to his chest. Unfortunately, due to his injuries he was unable to maintain this advantage for long. This is why we find him sitting slouched, injured and exhausted against a tree staring down a still relatively fresh Mizuki.

"So noble!" mocked Mizuki, "Saving your parents murderer… and for what? What happens if we let him live?"

"Then maybe the scroll is safe from a scumbag?" Iruka offered sarcastically, he was too tired than to do anything but talk.

But both chûnin were unaware Naruto was currently hiding behind a nearby tree, so was privy to their conversation.

"You're a fool. The demon within him hungers for that kind of strength! You were right to fear him… despise him." Mizuki taunted.

'_So Iruka-sensei is just like the rest of the village_.' Naruto thought sadly preparing to leave once more. '_He really does hold me… in contempt.'_

"Maybe I do hate the fox," Iruka began, "but not Naruto, not the boy." Iruka said with fatigue.

Naruto froze.

"For him, I have nothing but respect. He's an excellent student. He… works with all his might. But sometimes, even so, he's awkward, clumsy… a screw-up." Iruka said as the pain and fatigue weakened him. "People have mocked him and shunned him… and it's given him empathy. He knows what it means to be in pain."

Iruka stopped to take a breath before saying more and stated strongly, "That boy is not your demon fox! He is… a citizen of Konoha-gakure village… UZUMAKI NARUTO!"

Naruto began to cry from happiness and was releasing emotions that had been bottled up for over five years.

Mizuki just sneered at the injured teacher. "Whatever Iruka. Congrats on 'the corniest speech ever' award. I was going to leave you alive for later, but you've annoyed me enough to move up your execution." He took the remaining shuriken from the strap on his back and began to spin it rapidly. "SO SAY GOODBYE!!" he roared as he rushed towards Iruka, murder in his eyes.

Iruka could only sit and watch as his impending doom ran towards him. He knew he was no match for Mizuki in his current condition. His body refused to move. A sad smile spread across his face as he thought, _'So, this is it…'_

Mizuki was only a few meters away from his victim when something neither man expected happened. A sudden flash of bright blue light intercepted Mizuki, crashing a knee to the chûnin's face. Mizuki was thrown back and hit the ground hard, but he quickly righted himself to see his attacker.

There, standing with his face downcast was Uzumaki Naruto; the Forbidden Scroll lay on the ground beside him. The chûnin's attention was drawn from the scroll by Naruto's voice. "Stay away from Iruka-sensei," he stated strongly, bringing his eyes up to meet Mizuki's gaze, "Or I'll kill you."

"STUPID KID!" cried Iruka in dismay. "GET OUT OF HERE! SAVE YOURSELF!!"

"LOUD-MOUTH BRAT! I'LL KILL YOU IN ONE BLOW!!" Mizuki roared again in insane rage.

"Bring it on you jerk!" Naruto said. His eyes were so cold, his voice held such venom, and his expression was deadly serious. The change was unnerving to the man, gone was the prankster loudmouth, the crying pariah, but before him was a foe ready and willing to kill. Naruto pulled down his goggles in a swift motion, "Anything you throw at me." he replied bringing his hands to a seal neither chûnin reconized, "I'll give it back times a thousand!"

"You're welcome to try you little fox!" Cried Mizuki in rage.

"MASS SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" Naruto roared. The clearing suddenly was covered in smoke and when it cleared it revealed over a hundred clones surrounding the two chûnin and ready to fight.

Iruka could hardly believe it. "These are solid clones! He did it. He mastered a jônin level Ninjutsu within a few hours!" he whispered in awe.

"I won't kill you," a 'Naruto' said forming a hand seal. "…But I won't let you get away from hurting Iruka-sensei." another clone said coldly.

000

A slightly winded Naruto walked away from the beaten and broken traitor to Iruka. "I guess I kind of overdid it, eh Iruka-sensei," said a sheepish Naruto, rubbing the back of his head, smiling like nothing happened.

Iruka, who had been moved so he could rest against a tree, looked at him, and smiled back. "Hey, Naruto?"

"Yes, Iruka-Sensei?" Naruto asked walking to the chûnin.

"Naruto close your eyes for a second," said Iruka. Naruto, although confused by the strange request, complied. He felt his sensei remove the goggles on his forehead and replace them with something else.

"Okay Naruto you can open your eyes now." Opening his eyes Naruto saw his sensei smiling at him, but something was missing. His forehead was bare. Raising his hand to his own forehead Naruto felt the cool metal with an indentation in the center.

With widened eyes Naruto looked back up to his sensei, as if asking for confirmation. "Congratulations Naruto, you pass."

Iruka had to bite back a wince as Naruto tackled him around his midsection, putting him into a painfully tight hug. "THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!" Naruto shouted into his chest.

"You earned it Naruto," said Iruka, who finally managed to pry off his now former student. "Now I think that we should be returning that scroll to the Hokage," he said before his eyes flickered to Mizuki, "and we might want to get Mizuki to a hospital."

000

Sarutobi sighed as he looked up to the portraits that lined the wall across from his desk. In particular he focused on the portrait of a blonde man with blue eyes. "Minato, it should be you in awaiting your Legacy's arrival, not me." He now shifted his gaze to the village outside his window. "I wonder, would you have still chosen him if you knew what he has had to endure because of it. I just wish I could have done so much more for him. I've already failed him so many times." Tears began to form in his eyes, but he quickly dried them when he heard a ruckus outside his office. '_Minato, despite it all, I'm sure you would be very proud of him_.' With that last thought, he waited for a certain genin to enter his office.

The said genin burst into his office a few moments later putting the scroll on the desk and smiled a little nervously. "Hiya, Hokage-sama. I guess I've got a lot of explaining to do."

Sarutobi merely chuckled, "Not at all Naruto, I've already been informed of Mizuki's role in tonight's events." His old face grew solemn as he changed the subject. "However, I wish to speak to you about what transpired between you and Mizuki and what he revealed to you tonight."

Naruto's grin also vanished with the change of subject matter. "Why… why wasn't I told?" Sarutobi could see the hurt and betrayal in his eyes.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but at the time I thought it was for the best. I created a law that made even the mention of the Kyuubi being sealed inside of you illegal. My hopes were that you would at least have a somewhat normal life." The old Hokage pulled out his pipe and lit it with a low-level fire jutsu. "Unfortunately, the law didn't stop them from hating you and passing on that hatred to their children."

"But I _am_ the Kyuubi, right?" asked Naruto, confused at the man.

"No!" Sarutobi said firmly. "The Yondaime wanted you to be seen as the hero of this village. Without you the Yondaime would have never been able to defeat the Kyuubi. Unfortunately the people of this village still have a lot of built up hatred for the Kyuubi, and they see hurting you and hurting the demon as the same thing."

"But why me? Why did he choose me to seal away the Kyuubi? There were other children that night. So why choose an orphan with no one to care for him or keep him safe?" asked Naruto with downcast eyes.

"I don't think we will ever know why he chose you Naruto." Sarutobi mentally winced at Naruto's words and his response, but it was not yet safe for Naruto to know the truth. "But I believed he saw something special in you that made him believe you could bare a burden no one else could."

Naruto considered this information for a minute. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to him. But if the Sandamine didn't know then there was no point in pressing the matter. With a nod, Naruto told Sarutobi to continue.

Sarutobi was relieved Naruto decided not to pursue the matter. A smile made its way back to his face. "Now, about the scroll you took. I understand you were able to learn a jutsu from it."

Naruto's gloomy mood evaporated immediately. "Yeah!" he said placing "It's totally awesome!" his hands in a cross seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu." In a puff a second Naruto appeared in the office, wearing the same fox-like grin as the original.

"That's quite impressive Naruto, you learned a jônin level technique in a few hours. Most chûnin don't have the chakra reserves for that jutsu." the Sandaime spoke. "Now when you attacked Mizuki, how were you able to approach him so fast?" The Hokage asked it would have been almost impossible for a just graduated genin to move so fast after such rigorous training, to go at such a speed by physical power alone was… superhuman.

"Well, he was distracted and I think he wasn't expecting anything. I just focused on stopping Mizuki so I could save Iruka-sensei, and I was suddenly in front of him." Naruto said confused at where this was going.

Sandaime nodded sagely and said, "So your will to protect strengthened your body so you were able to intercept Mizuki." _'Oh please Minato; you didn't do what I think you did. I need Jiraiya to look at your seal.'_

"Now I think I've held you up enough, you should go home and get some rest, you'll need to stop by tomorrow or the day after to fill out your identification papers for being a ninja." And with that he sent Naruto on his way.

Afterwards, the Sandaime picked up the scroll and personally put back in its safe along with a few additional security measures, just in case. He noted that most of Naruto's pranks and schemes revealed holes in security of the village, that was one point that he was able to use to counter those that hated him for his mischief-making. He especially enjoyed the fact that they had no rebuttal.

As he left the tower, Naruto ran into a slightly worried and heavily bandaged Iruka waiting outside. "Naruto, how did it go? Are you in any trouble?"

Naruto just laughed at his sensei's antics. "Nah, the old man just wanted to ask some questions then he let me off the hook."

Iruka breathed out a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear, Naruto. Now, how 'bout I treat you to some ramen for celebrating becoming a genin. We should be able to get a few bowls before Icharaku's closes down for the night." Never one to pass up free ramen, Naruto agreed instantly.

000

Naruto had a lot to think over, so he went to where he normally went to collect himself, the Hokage Monument. He somehow found some small amount peace sitting on the Hokages' stone heads over the village. Naruto sat himself down cross-legged, leaned back on his arms and looked at the place that had been the source of all the pain he had suffered throughout his existence.

He was replaying the night's events in his mind still trying to grasp the extraordinary revelation he had discovered tonight. He suddenly sat up strait very urgently as he got a big sense of foreboding. The next thing he knew he felt a sudden pain in his back as he went flying off the Hokage Monument. Though he was plummeting to the ground, he did not cry out, mostly due to the shock of what was happening. He vaguely wondered what happened before guessing a skilled ninja kicked him like a ball off the edge.

'_I'm really gonna die this time aren't I?' _Naruto thought looking at the ground rapidly approaching. '_Die… gonna die…' _These thoughts echoed through his mind until he hit the ground.

000

Naruto sputtered out water as he got up from the landing on concrete and shallow water. Standing up shakily, he realized that this was not the foot of the Hokage Monument. He wasn't completely stupid, contrary to popular belief, but he wasn't that smart either. But even he could tell that this wasn't where he had fallen.

"Is this… hell?" Naruto asked aloud in confusion as he looked around. This place didn't seem really hellish. "Nah." he said dismissively.

He could see that he was in a dimly lit, plain, concrete corridor with passageways on either side at equal intervals in both directions. He could also here an uneven rumbling sound echoing along the halls. It could be heard stronger on one side than the other. In his curiosity, Naruto followed the sound, looking for the source as he trudged through the water on the ground that was several inches high.

It was not very long, a minute at most, when Naruto walked through a passageway that opened into a vast cavern. He was not sure how high the ceiling of the cavern was, but it was at least twenty meters tall. At the far end of the cavern, a giant barred gate covered the entire area of where the back wall should be. In the center where the handle or the lock would be there was a thin, frail-looking slip of paper with the kanji symbols "seal" on it.

"**Boy, come closer**. " A guttural voice rasped out.

"How about … no?" Naruto said warily, with an undertone of sarcasm.

Naruto heard a sudden crash of something huge clashing against the bars of what he now assumed was a cage.

"**I'd love to eat you, but this damnable seal won't move**" the voice growled again.

"Well, I'd love to kill you too, but that seal prevents me from doing so." Naruto replied irritably with his eye twitching.

"**You couldn't hurt me in your dreams.** " The voice responded confidently. The two glowing crimson eyes with silted pupils confirmed Naruto's theory.

"I can dream quite a bit, YOU NINE-TAILED, OVERGROWN MUTANT RABBIT!" Naruto replied, shouting the last part.

'_Everything happened because of… IT!'_ He thought in loathing as he snarled at the fox, which turned to an evil grin when hear the fox roar and crash against the cage. It looks like he struck a nerve. Wonderful.

"**DAMN YOU, MEASLY HUMAN!! I AM THE FOX OF NINE TAILS! ONE OF THE BIJU LORDS!!**" It roared in its fury, the sharp teeth barred and visible.

"Whatever," Naruto said turning around. "I'm leaving."

"**Do so and you chose the alternative**. " the Kyuubi called to him, significantly calmer then a moment ago.

Naruto stopped in mid-step. "Alternative?" He asked.

"**You will die if you leave here**." it replied forcefully.

"Die as in forever dead?" Naruto asked before taking a step back and turning to face the cage again. "Okay and the other option?"

"**The other choice is I give you some of my chakra so you will have the strength to survive, mortal.**" The Biju replied, a slight begrudging in its guttural voice

"No." Naruto replied automatically. Thinking through it after he said that he

figured the fox was trying to trick him to letting it posses him. It was a fox after all. "Not happening."

"**You're refusing some of **_**my**_** power?"** It asked sounding somewhat annoyed. Naruto stopped turning around at the Fox's next question. "**Why would you refuse such an offer?**"

"It's too good to be true!" Naruto snapped angrily. "Give me one good reason that you benefit from this!" He snarled at the creature.

"**Because if you die, I die, and I refuse to die!**" the fox growled.

Naruto blinked when he heard this "Really? Okay..." he said turning around and walking away "... if that is the case…"

"**Do you want to die?!**" The Kyuubi demanded by the time Naruto took two steps.

"If I can destroy you once and for all…" Naruto said, turning his head to glare over his shoulder, "then hell yeah." he finished darkly.

A third step…

"**What about the scarred one?**" The Biju asked.

Naruto took a fourth step but went no further.

'_Iruka-sensei…'_ Naruto thought as an image of the chûnin flashed through his mind_. 'Why would the fox care about him? Is it so desperate that …'_ Naruto stopped at that...

The Biju was a little fast when asking the last question. Its voice had a miniscule amount of urgency in it. It _was_ desperate. Desperate to survive. He had Kyuubi's existence in his hands.

He had the fox at his mercy.

In light of this revelation, he began to laugh. It started as low chuckle before his shoulders shook from laughing so hard. When was able to compose himself he spoke, not able to suppress his sarcastic tone. "Is the great immortal Kyuubi attempting to survive by telling a measly mortal human boy to remember a pathetic human emotion? Who'd of thought?" Then he lifted his foot to proceed.

Only to use that foot to take a step back and turn around with a theatrical exasperated look on his face. "Alright your chakra is the rent for me letting you live here." Naruto said, his foxy grin appearing before becoming deadly serious. "But try anything and I will kill us both, you got that?!" he finished darkly.

He could have sworn he saw the fox's eyes widen the slightest bit.

"**Heh heh heh... Mwaha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"** The Kyuubi bellowed in laughter.

Naruto just glared into the darkness of he cage, but before he could turn around the beast spoke again.

"**You are very brave to threaten me kit, and can actually carry it out without cowering away. Very well, I'll reward your courage**." The fox said as a red liquid began seeping out the cage. "**But if you are in a fatal situation, you **_**will**_** accept my chakra. I will not die because of your bumbling."**

"**Take it and go back to the Mountaintop**," It said as a red sludge substance

leaked through the bars towards Naruto before it rose up and wrapped around him. "**You better appreciate my gift, mortal. For the power you now wield is greater than any other you will ever know."**

000

Naruto's eyes snapped open as he recalled the fox's last words before suddenly he was on the ground; but it was cracked as if something of great force had pushed it down.

Naruto was on all fours and somehow back on the mountaintop. Looking up from the ground he saw two men dressed all in black and wore armor and cloaks like the ANBU Black Ops. However they had plain black face-masks unlike the animal-resembling ones the ANBU had.

"It's the demon fox!" one of the men whispered in terrified awe.

Naruto flinched at that before he began seeing red. He felt a fiery rage consume him as he snarled at the pair. In a crimson blur, Naruto rushed at the one that spoke intending to rip him to shreds. While the older ninja tried to dodge Naruto, the boy managed to tear through his armor and break the skin. Naruto grinned savagely as he heard a small cry of pain and felt a warm liquid on the fingers of his left hand.

Keeping his momentum, Naruto used his other hand to touch the ground in order to turn direction and push himself into the air before slamming his feet into the man's gut, sending him flying. As he focused on his second opponent, Naruto saw that the ANBU-like man had drawn a sword and was about to cleave him in two. Reacting on instinct alone, with superhuman speed, Naruto whipped his right hand out horizontally.

Amazingly, red chakra extended from his hand and moved like a whip striking the man's hands. The masked man dropped his sword with an audible hiss, whether it was from pain or from burning flesh Naruto couldn't tell, but he was to angry to care. Finally curling into a ball, Naruto flipped two more times before landing on his feet with animalistic grace. He snapped his head up revealing two demonic eyes of hate.

Not letting up for a second, Naruto thrust both of his fists forward and again his chakra extended forward and struck the two men with extreme prejudice in their chests, sending them flying back before it dissipated into nothingness.

Naruto felt a shiver go down his spine before whipping his head to his right. His stomach churned as if he had drunk spoiled milk when he saw a swarm of kunai and shuriken heading at him. He began to feel as if he was going to vomit or burp, but when he opened his mouth he felt… power, escaping his mouth in a roar that sent the projectiles back in the direction they came.

Naruto just stood there crouched as he looked for his enemies. Closing his eyes, he somehow _sensed _four… things moving away at an incredible speed for a second until they were too far away to detect. After a moment Naruto smirked in satisfaction and stood up. But then he frowned and looked down as he felt something on his hand.

His fingernails had lengthened so that they became blunt claws. And his hand was covered in drying blood. He felt the fiery energy leave him as if it was suddenly blown out like a candle. He kept staring at his hand, falling numbly on knees in horror. He lurched forward and vomited.

He fell on his side trying to avoid his half digested dinner. He looked back at his hand to see that his fingernails had shrunk back to size but the blood was still there.

"What… have… I… done?"

Naruto's short-term memory gave him the answer. There was rage, hatred, and insatiable bloodlust. There was no humanity in how he acted; there was only this insane anger that was further fueled by the fox's limitless chakra. But with that power there was no _heart_!

The rage that he felt, that malice, that hate, that spite, that… cruelty was _his own_. He fell into a state of shock; he had experienced all the afflictions that a village of assassins could muster, but for the first time, he knew why. And he just proved them all right.

000

It was some time later when he had regained conscious thought. '_But if I did that, than aren't I the fox?'_ the blonde wondered slowly pushing himself up. He held his head in his hands as he sat up. But if he was the fox, what was that he saw? Didn't that thing call him a mortal and a 'measly human'? That didn't make sense if he was the actual Kyuubi. However the beast called him 'kit' when he gained its chakra. But also called him 'mortal' again. So he wasn't human anymore apparently, but he still wasn't the immortal fox spirit that destroyed his… no, Konohagakure years ago. He didn't know if he should consider this place his home. A home is somewhere you belong, right?

'_I don't belong here'_, he thought as he stood up and began to shakily walk down the path from the monument to the village. _'I don't belong anywhere, really.'_ He thought sadly.

Naruto trudged almost mechanically home, still in a dazed state. He made it to his apartment without another incident. After locking his apartment door behind him he shuffled to his bed taking off his gozi sandals, his jumpsuit jacket, and his t- shirt before passing out on the bed into a fitful sleep as his actions returned to haunt him.

He twitched on his bed for hours as his body reacted to the aftereffects of receiving the fox's 'gift'. His body was beginning to adapt and change to compensate for what he had been given. The token the Biju lord gave Naruto was not merely his chakra, but a power. The power of the ninth jinchûriki has been unleashed…


End file.
